Viral vectors for gene therapy

ABSTRACT

Adenovirus types 11p and 4p show a higher binding affinity and infectivity than type 5 for endothelial and carcinoma cell lines. Adenovirus type 11p shows a stronger binding to cells for neural origin, such as glioblastoma, neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. The fact that adenovirus type 11 has a comparatively low prevalence in society, together with its high affinity and infectivity, makes it very suitable for use in gene therapy.

The present invention concerns the field of gene therapy and in particular the use of specific adenoviral vector systems for gene therapy, said vector systems offering enhanced efficiency and specificity for gene delivery. The present invention also provides novel sequence information regarding a specific viral vector with high binding efficiency and infectivity to cells of neural origin, endothelial cells, carcinoma cells and dendritic cells.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gene transfer into neural cells has grown into a big field in neuroscience. The usage of gene transfer is ranging from treatment of genetic diseases, tumours and acquired degenerative encephalopaties such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease to being a powerful tool in the study of biological mechanisms. An important application of gene transfer is gene therapy, which is when a therapeutic gene is inserted into the cells by ex vivo or in vivo techniques. One of the obstacles to overcome with gene therapy is to get the gene into the right cell type. The choice of cell depends on the nature of the disease. One example is cystic fibrosis, where clinical trials have already started to deliver a vector with a correct copy of the damaged gene (the CFTR gene) as an aerosol into the lungs. But even if the disease is manifest in the lung it is not certain that the correcting gene will enter the right cell type. In other diseases such as Haemophilia B where a blood clotting factor (IX) is missing in plasma, it is not as important to reach the damaged cell type. Even if the liver normally makes the clotting factor, it does not matter if the therapeutic gene is inserted in muscle cells, fibroblasts or even blood cells as long as the clotting protein is produced in therapeutic amounts and with the correct post-translational modifications. The protein accessibility to its target and the immunological status is also important. A protein that is normally expressed only inside the blood-brain barrier could for example be immunogenic if exposed on the outside.

There are two different approaches to deliver the DNA (target genes) into the cells. The first is the usage of non-viral vectors to insert the DNA. The non-viral approach consists of methods like direct injection of the DNA, mixing the DNA with polylysine or cationic lipids that allow the DNA to be internalised. Most of these approaches have a low efficiency of delivery and transient expression of the gene. The second and more widely used approach to insert the DNA is by using viral vectors. Viruses have evolved a mechanism to insert their DNA into cells very effectively, but the side effect is that humans have evolved an effective immune response to eliminate viruses from the body.

To function as a viral vector in the nervous system, the vector should have certain properties. Since almost all cells in the brain are non-dividing, the vector must be able to infect non-dividing cells. A good vector also needs to be non-toxic to the cells in the dose required for infection (direct cytotoxicity i.e. by capsid proteins and antigenicity). It should be replication deficient to prevent the virus from uncontrolled spreading and damage to the cells. After the DNA has entered the nucleus it should integrate in a site-specific location in the host chromosome or become a stable extra-chromosomal element (episome). The desired gene should be expressed without interfering with the cellular expression machinery.

Viral vectors used for gene delivery into the nervous system are herpes simplex-1 virus, adenovirus, adeno-associated virus and retrovirus such as lentivirus. All the viruses pathogenicity genes have been deleted and their ability:to replicate has-been incapacitated.

Adenoviruses are good candidates for gene therapy towards the nervous system for a number of reasons. They can infect both dividing and non-dividing cells, the viral genome is relatively stable and is easy to manipulate by recombinant DNA techniques. Replication of the virus is efficient in permissive cells and the pathogenicity is low. One of the obstacles to overcome with all viral vectors is to achieve a sustained expression. The viral vector evokes an immune response that is both cell mediated and humoral and the infected cells may become destroyed by the inflammatory response within a couple of weeks. The immune response evoked by adenoviral gene transfer is however different in the brain compared to in the peripheral tissues. The immune response in the brain is not sufficiently strong to eradicate the adenovirus infected cells. However, if the individual has had a previous exposure to the adenovirus or was inoculated with the virus later, a strong inflammatory response can be evoked also in the brain. Consequently, adenovirus serotypes of low prevalence in the society should preferentially be used as vectors to be more successful as gene delivery vectors.

The adenoviruses are a family of DNA viruses that can infect both dividing and non-dividing cells. They do not usually integrate into the host chromosome, instead they are replicated as extra-chromosomal elements inside the nucleus of the host cell. Adenoviruses can bind to a range of different cell types. The clinical picture of an adenovirus infection is often respiratory infection or gastro-enteritis. A tonsillitis similar to a streptococcus A infection is also not uncommon. Some of the adenovirus serotypes can cause epidemic keratoconjunctivitis or in some cases even meningitis or encephalitis.

There are at the present 51 known serotypes of adenovirus, which have been divided into six different subgenera, A-F, depending on their biological properties and genetic homology. Virus within the same subgenus shares more than 50% DNA homology whereas viruses in different subgenera have less than 20% homology (Wadell G., Adenoviruses (adenoviridae): General features. Encyclopaedia of Virology. Ed. Webster R. G., Granoff A., Academic Press Ltd London, pp 1-7, 1999).

Human adenoviruses are non-enveloped and about 80 nm in diameter with a 36 Kbp double stranded DNA. The virion capsid is composed of 240 hexon capsomers and 12 vertex capsomers. An antenna-like fibre projects from each vertex capsomer (located at the corners of the icosahedral capsid). The epitopes capable of making serotype specific antibodies and hence also the epitopes determining the serotype are located on the external portions of the hexons and on the most distal knob of the fibre.

Infection starts with the attachment of the fibre knob to a cellular receptor on the permissive cell. The cellular receptor for the virus fibre is coxsackievirus-adenovirus receptor (CAR) for all subgenera except subgenus B. Additional cellular receptors for adenoviruses are the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) alpha2 and sialic acid. The viral penton base then binds to the cellular integrin α_(v)β₃ and the virus is internalised by endocytosis into an endosome. Upon fusion with a lysosome, the pH is lowered leading to alterations in the viral capsid, releasing the virion from the endo-lysosome. The virion is then transported to the nucleus where the replication and transcription takes place. The spliced mRNA is translated in the cytoplasm. Production of the fibre protein can be detected 9-11 h after infection. The structural proteins are then translocated into the nucleus where assembly of new virions takes place.

PRIOR ART

EP 1 054 064 discloses adenovirus derived gene delivery vehicles comprising at least one element of adenovirus type 35. The nucleic acid sequence of adenovirus 35 is enclosed in said patent application, published on Nov. 22, 2000. The sequence is also available through the EBI/EMBL database under access number AAC8884. The homology between this sequence, and the sequence disclosed in the present application is quite high. Naturally, the viruses within each of the six subgenera exhibit more than 50% sequence homology, as genetic homology is one of the foundations of the subtyping system. Within some subtypes, further divisions can be made, e.g. based on the receptor/receptor, combinations of each virus. In the subgenus B, a division into two groups can be made. Group B:1 contains e.g. the adenoviruses 3 and 7, which are known to cause acute airway infections. Group B:2 contains e.g. the viruses 11 and 35 which have tentatively been shown to possess a trypsin resistant receptor or receptor combination, which also seems to be resistant to EDTA. Despite this similarity, the viruses Ad 11 and 35 exhibit different binding patterns, as evidenced by the figures attached to the present application. There are also strong indications that Ad 11 in fact possesses a specific and hitherto unknown receptor structure (unpublished results). Further, the present sequence differs from that of EP 1 054 064 in those parts of the genome which are associated to the characterising features of the virus, such as features related to tropism and immune response. These differences, the heterology between the sequences, are of such magnitude, that they entail functional and qualitative differences between adenovirus 11 and 35. It should be kept in mind, that a difference of even one amino acid in the ligand structure can be of great significance for the binding properties of a virus. Similarly, minor differences in epitope structure influence the interaction with antibodies in the host organism.

It has previously been shown that adenovirus 11p exhibits high affinity to hematopoietic cells (Anna Segerman et al., Adenovirus types 11 p and 35 p show high binding efficiencies for committed hematopoietic cell lines and are infective to these cell lines, J Virology, February 2000, Vol. 74, No. 3, 1457-1467). This article however gives insufficient information on the interaction between the virus and normal cells or stem cells. Importantly, the experimental set-up results in the information being specific for cancerous cells, and the relevance on non-cancerous or pre-cancerous cells can be disputed. Further, important groups of cells subject of the present invention, were not studied in the work by Segerman et al.

In view of the above, it remains a problem to make available an adenoviral vector with both high infectivity to important cell types, and a low prevalence in society. It is very important to gain more knowledge of specific features responsible for the binding and immune response interaction of the viruses. Further problems and their solutions will be evident from the description and examples, as read by a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a purified and isolated DNA of an adenovirus consisting of a sequence encoding adenoviral proteins having the amino acid sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 2 or homologues thereof. The invention further provides the purified and isolated DNA of an adenovirus having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1, or a sequence hybridising thereto under stringent conditions. The invention also provides adenoviral vectors comprising these sequences or fragments thereof, in particular the nucleic acid or amino acid sequence fragments corresponding to the hexon and the fiber protein of the virus, including the use of these in methods for gene therapy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described in further detail below, in the description and attached sequence listing and drawings, in which

FIG. 1 shows the mean values of the FACS results in % virusbound cells for the neural cell lines Mg251, PFSK-1, SHS-Y5Y and the epithelial cell line A549.

FIG. 2 shows the 12% SDS-PAGE with [³⁵S]methionine labelled proteins in virus infected neural cells. NC denotes the negative control (non-infected cells).

FIG. 3 shows the result of analysis of the binding capacity of Ad11p, Ad5v, Ad4p, Ad31p, Ad37p and Ad41p to endothelial cell line (HMEC, top right diagram), tumour cell lines A549 (a lung cancer cell line, top left diagram), HepG2 (hepatoma, second column, second line), LNCaP and DU145 (prostate carcinoma, third line, second and first column), CAMA and MG7 (breast carcinoma, fourth line, second and first column) and HEP2 (larynx carcinoma, second line, first column). Three-different concentrations of biotin-streptavidin-FITC labelled adenoviruses (0.1, 0.3 and 0.6 pg/cell) were incubated with cells of different origin, percentages of virus labelled cells were evaluated by flow cytometry. The values in the diagrams represent the means of three independent experiments.

FIG. 4 shows the expression of viral structural and non-structural proteins in the HMEC, MG7 and A549 cell lines. One and a half million cells of the different cell lines were infected by Ad11p, Ad5v and Ad4p (7200 viral physical particles/cell) and labelled with ³⁵S-labelled methionine and cystein 24 h p.i. and harvested 72 h p.i. The same amount of cell lysates from different cell lines were separated by SDS-PAGE on a 12% gel and autoradiographed for 1-3 days. The arrows show the main structural polypeptides of Ad11p.

FIG. 5 shows the production of infectious Ad4p virus particles in HMEC, HepG2, MG7 and A549 cells (as a reference). 100 000 cells of the HNMC, HepG2, MG7 and A549 cell line were infected by Ad4p (0.2 pg/cell) and incubated for 1, 12, 24, 48 and 96 h The infected cells were freeze-thawed three times and the TCID₅₀ of the lysates determined by titration in A549 cells.

FIG. 6 shows the result of the FACS analysis of virus binding (Ad 5v, Ad 11p and Ad 35p) to dendritic cells.

FIG. 7 shows the result of FACS analysis evaluating the binding capacities of adenoviruses with various tropisms to CD34+ progenitor cells from bone marrow.

FIG. 8 shows the result of a FACS analysis using streptavidin RPE labelled virions, confirming that the cells binding adenoviruses represent CD34+ cells.

DESCRIPTION

The term “substantially homologous” as used herein refers to the ability of two nucleic acids to hybridise under at least moderately stringent hybridisation conditions. Stringency of hybridisation is a term of the art that refers to the conditions used for a hybridisation reaction whereby complementary single strands of nucleic acid join to one another to form double-stranded nucleic acid with some degree of mismatch, the degree of which is a function of the stringency-used. In particular, the stringency will depend upon the size and composition of the strands of nucleic acid that are caused to react, the degree of mismatching allowed, the desired cross reactivity, and the like. The degree of stringency can be affected by ionic conditions employed and temperature, among others, as is well known in the art (e.g. Sambrook et al., Molecular cloning: A laboratory manual, second edition, 1989).

The terms “functionally homologous” and “functionally similar” refers to homologies and similarities accounting for the same function or behaviour with respect to tropism, affinity to specific cells and immune response inducing behaviour.

The present inventive adenoviral vector preferably further comprises foreign nucleic acid, which will typically encode, and express within a host cell, a product that has therapeutic and/or prophylactic utility. The term “foreign nucleic acid” is used herein to refer to any sequence of DNA or RNA, in particular DNA, functionally inserted into a vector according to the present invention that is foreign to the adenoviral genome. Such foreign nucleic acid may constitute a gene, a portion of a gene, or any other nucleic acid sequence, including but not limited to a sequence that encodes RNA, anti-sense RNA, a synthetic oligonucleotide, and/or a polypeptide. Foreign nucleic acids having therapeutic utility include genes that encode a missing or impaired gene function, and genes influencing the behaviour of the cell, such as so called suicidal genes. Foreign nucleic acids having prophylactic utility include genes that encode a gene product that has an ability to prevent disease directly or indirectly, e.g. by providing a source of a polypeptide or other antigen to elicit an immune response thereto.

The term “therapeutic and/or prophylactic agent” and the term “product having therapeutic and/or prophylactic utility” are used as equivalents and are meant to comprise inter alia antigens and immunostimulating agents, such as cytokines etc.

The present invention provides the purified and isolated DNA of an adenovirus consisting of a sequence encoding adenoviral proteins having the amino acid sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 2 or homologues thereof. As homologues are meant functional homologues or sequences exhibiting so high homology that also the characteristic features of the expressed virus proteins are the same, or a homology of at least 98%, preferably at least 99% to the sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 2.

The present invention further provides the purified and isolated DNA of an adenovirus having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 or a sequence hybridising thereto under stringent conditions or substantially homologous therewith.

The present invention provides a novel adenoviral vector comprising a sequence with at least 98 % homology to the sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1, in particular an adenoviral vector comprising a sequence with at least 99% homology to the sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 or most preferably an adenoviral vector comprising a sequence substantially homologous to the sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1.

The present invention also provides a purified and isolated DNA sequence comprising the nucleotide sequences defined by positions 30811-31788 and 18254-21100 in SEQ ID NO:I.

In particular, the present invention provides a novel adenoviral vector comprising the sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 or a fragment thereof.

Further, the invention provides a vector as above, wherein said vector further comprises a foreign nucleic acid that can express in a human a therapeutic and/or prophylactic agent or a foreign nucleic acid which in itself has a therapeutic and/or prophylactic utility.

The present invention further provides a method of gene therapy comprising the administration to a human, preferably a human patient, in need of gene therapy a therapeutically effective amount of a vector as defined above.

The present invention further provides the use of a vector comprising a sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 or a sequence substantially homologous therewith in gene therapy.

The present invention further provides the use of a vector comprising a sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 or a sequence substantially homologous therewith in cancer therapy. The invention also encompasses the use of a vector comprising a sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 or a sequence substantially homologous therewith in vascular therapy.

The use of a vector comprising a sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 1 and a selected therapeutic gene operatively linked to regulatory sequences which direct expression of said gene in the production of a medicament for treating a patient having an acquired or inherited genetic defect.

The invention makes available the use of a vector as defined above for the transfection of human cells chosen among cells of neural origin, and in particular for the infection of human cells chosen among glioblastoma, neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma.

The invention makes available the use of a vector as defined above for the transfection of human cells chosen among hepatoma cells, breast cancer cells, prostatic cancer cells and endothelial cells.

The invention makes available the use of a vector as defined above for the transfection of human cells chosen among dendritic cells.

The invention makes available a vector with pronounced affinity for CD34 positive hematopoietic progenitor cells, and consequently a method for the transfection of such cells. One application of considerable clinical potential is therefor to use adenovirus 4 in an ex vivo process for purging bone marrow derived hematopoietic progenitor cells from metastatic epithelial tumor cells, e.g. breast cancer or prostatic cancer cells. In the course of chemotherapy, it is common that bone marrow is collected from the patient before the therapy is commenced, and returned to the patient after completed therapy. This however entails the risk that small amounts of tumor cells have remained in the bone marrow, and are returned to the patient. Studies performed by the present inventors have shown that adenovirus 4 has affinity for these cells but spares hematopoietic progenitor cells, thus making it a promising instrument for this treatment.

Cells of Neural Origin

The present inventors have evaluated the ability for adenoviruses of the subgenera B, C, D and E to bind, infect and replicate in cells of neural origin. Especially Ad17 was interesting to compare since there are reports indicating efficient infection of primary rat neural cells by Ad2 when its fibre was replaced by the Ad17 fibre (Chillon M, Bosch A, Zabner J, Law L, Armentano D, Welsh M. J., Davidson B. L.; Group D Adenoviruses infect primary central nervous system cells more efficiently than those from group C.; Journal of Virology 73(3): 2537-2540, 1999). Notably, adenoviruses are species specific and it is therefor important to test this hypothesis in human tissues. Three different human neural cell lines were assessed, cells from a glioblastoma, neuroblastoma and a medulloblastoma cell line.

To address whether a virus can be used as a vector for gene delivery to a certain cell type one must first know the binding efficiency of the virus to the particulate cell type. The immunostaining procedure showed that all of the virus types could be expressed in the three tested cell lines, but the amounts of Zircons produced were clearly different. The time span from infection to production of viral particles also differed between the serotypes.

Expression of viral proteins in the SDS-PAGE experiment indicates that the virion can attach to the cell and become internalised. It also indicates that the virus is efficiently transported to the nucleus of the specific cell type and express its DNA. This is a necessary property for a virus to function as a vector candidate. It is not certain that all of the bands not present in the negative control represent viral proteins. The virus infection can induce the expression or suppression of proteins. To further investigate this issue one can perform a western blot against the viral proteins. If the cellular protein bands are absent it indicates that the virus infection turns off the synthesis, however, if cellular bands do appear it is not certain that the virus leaves the cellular protein machinery intact. If not all of the cells are infected, the non-infected cells can produce a “background” with cellular protein bands that are not expressed in the infected cells.

The FACS experiment can give an idea of how large percentage of the cells are binding to the serotypes Ad11p and Ad17. Surprisingly, Ad11p attaches to nearly 100% of the cells with the virus/cell ratio used (according to the FACS result). This indicates that adenovirus type 11p does not turn off the cellular protein synthesis because the cellular protein bands are still present in the infected cells and there are not enough non-infected cells in that population to produce a “background”.

It is also important to keep in mind that the radioactive labelling was initiated 22 h after the virus infection. The proteins produced before or much after that will not be labelled in the SDS-PAGE. The fact that viral Ad17 proteins were not detected in the neural cell lines does not necessarily mean that no viral particles were produced. The immunostaining indicates that Ad17 is expressed in all cell lines, but that expression in the neural cell lines is inefficient and delayed. Ad17 needs between 48 h and 5 days to get properly expressed except in the A549 cells. The FACS analysis indicates that Ad17 is binding to the neural cells, but not to the same degree as Ad11p. It should be kept in mind though, that binding is necessary for infection and viral expression, but the reverse is not always true. Binding does not necessarily lead to successful infection and expression.

Ad4p seems to have a very fast and effective expression in both PFSK-1 and Mg251 cells according to the immunostaining experiments performed by the present inventors. Importantly, Ad4p was also the only serotype showing expression in all the three neural cell lines.

The adenoviruses commonly used for gene transfer is Ad5v and Ad2 (both belonging to subgroup C) and they are used as representatives for most adenovirus-mediated gene transfers, no matter what tissue is addressed. This strategy is deleterious since gene transfer to neural cells by Ad5v is not optimal. Ad4p is infecting neural cells better than Ad5v. The high number of different adenoviruses and the fact that different adenoviruses have different tropisms (Wadell G., Adenoviruses (adenoviridae): General features. Encyclopaedia of Virology. Ed. Webster R. G., Granoff A., Academic Press Ltd London, pp 1-7, 1999) gives an indication that there is probably an optimal adenovirus type for each tissue. The task is just to find the appropriate vector for the specific purpose. Another important issue when choosing the best suited vector is the prevalence of immunity in the society. Ad5 is so common in most societies that more than 60% of the adult population are immune, whereas 10% or less have been infected by Ad11 or Ad17.

As mentioned in the introduction the adenovirus mediated expression cannot be sustained in a tissue if the individual has had an earlier contact with the virus and therefore can induce an anamnestic immune response against it. If a virus with high specificity for the target cells and high efficiency of internalisation and expression is chosen, low amounts of the viral vector can be used. This approach will reduce the risk of direct toxicity or immune response mediated adverse reactions, consequently it is important to improve the vectors used today and continue the search for good gene transfer vectors.

Endothelial and Carcinoma Cell Lines

The present inventors have also shown that Adenovirus type 11p shows markedly higher binding affinity than the conventionally used Ad5 to the endothelial cell line and the studied carcinoma cell lines. Ad 11p also exhibits higher infectivity in hepatoma, breast cancer and endothelial cell lines, compared to Ad 5.

Endothelial cells are essential target cells for gene therapy because they are intimately involved in disease processes associated with inflammation and angiogenesis and they are readily accessible to gene therapy vectors via the circulation. The above surprising finding, that endothelial cells are least permissive to the conventionally used vector Ad 5v, but more permissive to Ad 4p and Ad 11p supports the feasibility of the use of these vectors for gene therapy, as provided by the present invention.

According to one embodiment of the invention, Ad 11p is used for gene transfer in ex vivo and in vivo cancer gene therapy and for gene therapy of vascular diseases.

The adenovirus vector according to the present invention, which exhibits a high tropism towards endothelial cells, makes available methods for preventing the formation of neo-intima and microangiogenesis. The inventive vector is therefor used in vascular surgery, e.g. for preventing the formation of neo-intima in vascular prosthesis, such as vascular stents. The invention further provides the use of the vector in the prevention of scar formation in surgical applications, where one consequence of the surgical operation may be excessive scar formation. The invention also provides a method for the treatment of cancer, in that the formation of blood vessels in growing tumours can be prevented.

Disseminated metastatic tumours contain frequently the only dividing cells in the local environment. They can be addressed using a vector directed at microangiogenesis sites and with a capacity to bind, internalise and be expressed in the tumour cells. Specificity of the expression of the target genes can be obtained via the native tropism of the adenovirus vectors and/or organ-specific promoters. The inventive vector as defined in the description and claims is applicable also for this purpose.

The present invention also provides the use of Ad 4p for gene therapy of hepatoma, liver diseases in vivo, and prostatic cancer.

Dendritic Cells

The present inventors have also shown that Ad 11p exhibits high binding affinity to dendritic cells, and that the binding affinity is higher than that for the conventionally used viral vector Ad 5v. In a comparative analysis, Ad 11p but not Ad 5v manifested intranuclear expression in dendritic cells, as demonstrated by confocal microscopy, further underlining the utility of this vector as a vector for gene therapy.

An adenoviral vector according to the present invention bearing a gene encoding a product that has therapeutic and/or prophylactic utility may be administered to a human or other human patient, preferably suspended in a biologically compatible solution or a pharmaceutically acceptable delivery vehicle. A suitable vehicle is sterile saline solution. Other aqueous and non-aqueous isotonic sterile injection solutions and aqueous and non-aqueous sterile suspensions known to be pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and well known to those of skill in the art may be employed for this purpose.

A composition for administration of an adenoviral vector according to the invention may be formulated to contain other components, such as adjuvants, stabilisers, pH adjusters, preservatives and the like. Such components are well known to persons skilled in the relevant art of viral gene therapy.

The adenovirus vectors according to the invention are administered in a pharmaceutically effective amount, i.e. an amount that is effective to transfect the desired cells—in the chosen route of administration—and provide sufficient level of expression of the selected gene to provide a therapeutic benefit.

Conventional and pharmaceutically acceptable routes of administration include, but are not limited to, intranasal, intramuscular, intratracheal, subcutaneous, intradermal, rectal, oral, instillation into the urinary bladder and other parenteral routes of administration. Routes of administration may be combined, if desired, or adjusted depending upon the therapeutic goal, e.g. elicitation of immunity, and primarily on the nature of the disease being treated.

EXAMPLES

1. Cells of Neural Origin

1.1 Cell Lines and Virus Strains Used

A 549 (human oat cell carcinoma of the lung), Mg251 (human glioblastoma) and SHS-Y5Y (human neuroblastoma) was grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) (Sigma) containing 0.75% sodium bicarbonate (w/v), 10% foetal bovine serum (FBS) (Gibco BRL), 20 mM Hepes (pH 7.4) and 1×PEST (penicillin and streptomycin). PFSK-1 (humnan medulloblastoma) was grown in RPMI 1640 containing 10% FBS, 20 mM Hepes (pH 7.4) and 1×PEST. The viruses used in the study was Ad4p (prototype, strain RI-67), Ad5v (vector, strain pFG140), Ad11p (prototype, strain Slobitski) and Ad17 (prototype, strain Ch22).

1.2. Virus Purification

Ad4p, Ad5v, Ad11p and Ad17 were grown in A549 cells. 5 days after infection with the viruses the infected cells were harvested and pelleted for 5 min at 3000 rpm. The pellet was resuspended in 12 ml 20 mM Tris, pH 7.5. The solution was kept on ice and sonicated for 3×10 seconds at 70% power (Sonicator MSE). An equal volume of Arclon was added to the suspension and was then shaken for 20 minutes and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 5 min. The supernatant was layered on a discontinuous caesium chloride (CsCl) gradient followed by centrifugation at 25 000 rpm (Beckman L5-65B Ultracentrifuge) for 2.5 h at 4° C. The CsCl gradient consisted of three phases, 1.37 g/ml, 1.32 g/ml and 1.27 g/ml. Adenoviruses have a density of 1.34 g/ml in CsCl. The virion band was removed using a syringe. After centrifugation, the virions were purified from the CsCl by desalting on a NAP-10 column (Pharmacia, Sweden) and eluted with 1.5 ml 10 mM PBS. The virions were aliquoted and frozen in −80° C. in 10% glycerol. The virion concentration was determined by spectrophotometer. One optical density unit at the absorbance_(260 nm) minus absorbance_(330 nm) corresponds to 280 μg virions or 10¹² virus particles/ml.

1.3. Virus Labelling

To label the virions with biotin they were purified as described above with a CsCl gradient The virions in CsCl were put on a NAP-10 column, and eluted with 1.5 ml labelling buffer (50 mM NaHCO₃, 135 mM NaCl, pH 8.8). Three μl MgCl₂ (1M) was added to a concentration of 2 mM. 165 μl N-hydroxysuccimmidobiotin (1 mg/ml) dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was added and the virions were mixed with the biotin in the dark over night at 4° C. The free biotin was removed on a NAP-10 column eluted with 10 mM PBS. Glycerol was added and the viruses were aliquoted and frozen until used.

1.4 FACS Experiment

The cells were washed with 0.05% EDTA in PBS and then trypsin digested. The trrpsin was inactivated by addition of growth media (10% FBS+DMEM/RPEM). The cells were pelleted (1000 rpm 5 min, Beckman model TJ-6) and then washed with 5 ml DMEM/RPMI containing 2% inactivated FBS and 0.01% NaN₃. After a centrifugation the cells were resuspended in 5 ml DMEM/RPMI containing 2% inactivated FBS and 0.01% NaN₃. The cells were counted and allowed to regenerate its surface receptors for 1h at 37° C., and was then pelleted and resuspended in PBS containing 2% inactive FBS and 0.01% NaN₃ (PBS—FBS—NaN₃) to a concentration of 1 million cells/100 μl. 1 million cells were then added to each well in a microtitre plate. The cells were then pelleted on the microtitre plate and the supernatant was discarded. Biotinylated virus diluted in PBS—FBS—NaN₃ was added to the cells in the amounts of 1, 3 and 6 pg virions/cell. This corresponds to 3600, 10700, respectively 21400 virions/cell. The cells were kept on ice to avoid internalisation of the virus particles and incubated for 30 min in 4° C. to allow virus attachment. The cells were washed twice with 150 μl PBS—FBS—NaN₃. 100 μl Streptavidin-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC; DAKO) diluted 1:100 was added and incubated for 30 min at 4° C. The cells were washed again and resuspended in 300 μl PBS—FBS—NaN₃ containing propidium iodide (7 ng/ml) to exclude dead cells from the analysis. The measurement included 10 000 cells/sample and the data were analysed with the LYSYS II software program (Becton Dickinson).

1.5. [³⁵S]Methionine-Cysteine Labelling of Proteins After Virus Infection

The cell lines Mg251, A549, PFSK-1 and SHS-Y5Y were grown to an appropriate cell density in 25 cm² bottles, corresponding to approximately 1.5 million cells. The growth medium was replaced with a minimal amount of medium (2 ml) mixed with the virions, each bottle was infected with 3 μg virions, i.e. 10700 virions per cell. The infected cells were incubated for 90 min at 37° C. on a rocking platform. The medium used during the infection was DMEM for Mg251, A549 and SHS-Y5Y and RPMI 1640 for PFSK-1, containing 5% FBS, 20 mM Hepes pH 8.0 and 1×PEST.

Unbound virus particles were removed by washing. The cells were then incubated for 20 h in DMEM/RPMI 1640 containing 5% FBS, 20 mM Hepes pH 7.4 and 1×PEST at 37° C. The cells were washed with methionine and cysteine free DMEM/RPMI 1640 containing 5% FBS, 20 mM Hepes pH 7.4 and 1×PEST and then incubated for 2 h with 2.5 ml of the same type of medium to deplete endogenous methionine and cysteine. At 22 h post infection (p.i.) 0.35 mCi Tran³⁵S-label (1175 Ci/mmol, 10.5mCi/ml; ICN Biomedicals) was added to each bottle. After labelling for 1 h at 37° C., 26 μl (200 mM) unlabelled cysteine was added and after 4.5 h 26 μl unlabelled methionine (100 mM) was added. After labelling for 24 h another 26 μl of both unlabelled cysteine and methionine were added (making the final concentration 2 and 4 mM, respectively).

The infected cells were harvested at 72 h p.i. using a cell scraper. The cells were pelleted in falcon tubes and washed twice with 2 ml 0.1M Tris-HCl pH 8.0 containing 5 mM EDTA and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF). The cells were then dissolved in 90 μl of the same buffer, 10 μl of each sample were taken to protein separation on a 12% sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel (SDS-PAGE). The gel was stained with Coomassie blue, dried and autoradiographed for 22 h. To distinguish the viral proteins from the cellular proteins, Tran³⁵S-labelled non-infected cells were used for each cell line as a control.

1.6. Immunostaining Procedures

The neural cell lines Mg251, PFSK-1 and SHS-Y5Y were grown in 24-well plates (2 cm²/well) using DMEM (for Mg251 and SHS-Y5Y) and RPMI 1640 (for PFSK-1) containing 10% FBS, 20 mM Hepes pH 7.4 and 1×PEST. The cells were infected with Ad4p, Ad5v, Ad11p and Ad17 (2 pg/cell) during 1 h at 37° C. in 300 μl DMEM/RPMI 1640 with 20 mM Hepes pH 7.4 and 1×PEST (no FBS). After 1 h 1.2 ml DMEM/RPMI 1640 containing 2% FBS, 20 mM Hepes pH 7.4 and 1×PEST was added to each well. The cells were detached from the surface by washing with PBS containing 0.05% EDTA after 24 h, 48 h and 120 h p.i. The cells were then washed in PBS and the cells from each well were resuspended in 300 μl PBS each and allowed to dry on a glass slide. The cells were fixed in 100% ice-cold methanol for 10 min and then washed in PBS. Non specific binding was reduced by a blocking step using PBS containing 0,1% BSA and 1% rabbit serum for 20 min.

As a primary antibody sera from rabbits immunised with virions (Ad4p, Ad5v, Ad11p and Ad17) were used in a 1:200 dilution (Wadell, G., J. Immunol., 108, 622-632, 1972). The cells were then washed 2×5 min in PBS and incubated with the secondary antibody, a FITC conjugated swine-anti rabbit immunoglobulin G (DAKO), diluted 1:40 in PBS for 30 min at room temperature. The cells were washed again in PBS and then mounted with 80% glycerol in PBS and a coverslip. The photos were taken in a fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axiovert) at 200× enlargement.

2. Results Concerning Binding to Cells of Neural Origin

2.1. FACS

Ad11p is binding very well to all of the cell lines used. 1 μg seems to be enough to saturate the 1 million cells except for the medulloblastoma cell line PFSK-1. One μg and 6 μg of Ad11p virions could label 76% and 86% of the PFSK-1 cells respectively. Ad17 is binding better to the PFSK-1 and A549 cells than to the other cell lines. In conclusion, Ad17 can bind to all of the cell lines, but not to the same extent as Ad11p. See FIG. 1.

2.2. [³⁵S]Methionine-Cysteine Labelling

See FIG. 2: 12% SDS-PAGE with the [³⁵S]methionine labelled proteins. NC is negative control (non-infected cells).

Ad4p: Ad4p can be expressed in all cell lines. There is a strong protein band around 110 kD most likely representing the hexon protein. The viral polypeptides V and VI (48 and 24.5 kD, respectively, see table 1) seem to be strongly expressed in the A549 cells and also in PFSK-1. The cellular protein bands seems to be mostly unaffected, even if a small change in the level of cellular proteins can be detected compared to the control. Ad4p is the only virus type that can induce expression of virion proteins in the neuroblastoma cell line (SHS-Y5Y) even if the level of expression is significantly lower than in the other cell lines.

Ad5v: The Ad5v hexon is only expressed in the Mg251 and A549 cell line. Thus, only the glial cells of the neural cell types could support expression of Ad5v. Both cell lines show a strong expression of hexons as well as of other viral proteins.

Ad11p: Ad11p hexon is expressed in both the glioblastoma (Mg251) and the medulloblastoma cell line (PFSK-1) as well as in the epithelial cell line (A549). It is however interesting to see that some SHS-Y5Y bands are different compared to the control. A cellular band around 42 kD (probably the actin band) seems to be markedly decreased.

Ad17: Ad17 is expressed in the A549 cell line. The expression is not as strong as for the other virus types. However, neither hexon nor any other viral proteins are expressed in the neural cell lines.

TABLE 1 Characterised virion proteins (Wadell G., Hammarskjöld M-L., Winberg G., Varsanyi T. M., Sundell G. Annals of the New York academy of sciences 354; 16-42, 1980.). Viral Ad4p Ad5v Ad11p Ad17 polypeptide kD kD kD kD II (hexon) 121 (117, 124) 110 120 117 III, IIIa, IV 74, 72, 66 85, 66, 64 74, 70, 66 64, 62, 40 V 48 48.5  54 50.5 VI 24.5  24  24 23.2 VII 18 18.5  18 18.2 VIII, IX 11.8 13, 12 13, 12.5 11.7

2.3. Immunofluorescence

Ad4p: Virus specific staining in the Mg251 cells was detected already after 24 h p.i. and strong immunofluorescence after 48 h in both Mg251 and PFSK-1. SHS-Y5Y cells show no signs of infection at 48 h, but are strongly stained after 5 days p.i.

Ad5v: The Ad5v infected cells manifested weak virus specific immunofluorescence in the Mg251 cells after 48 h. Only a few PFSK-1 cells show a very strong expression after 48 h. SHS-Y5Y cells are not positive at 48 h, but have developed expression at 5 days.

Ad11p: There are some weakly positive cells at 24 h both in the Mg251 cells and the PFSK-1 cells. At 48 h and 5 days there is a strong viral expression. The SHS-Y5Y cells do not show any expression until 5 days p.i.

Ad17: There is a weak expression at 24 h p.i. that continues to be weak at 5 days p.i. in the Mg251 cells. Some of the PFSK-1 cells show strong expression at 5 days p.i., but the percentage of positive cells is low. SHS-Y5Y cells are positive at 5 days p.i.

3. Endothelial and Carcinoma Cells

3.1 Viruses Tested for Tropism for Endothelial and Carcinoma Cells

Ad31p (prototype, 1315/63), Ad11p (Slobitski), Ad5v (vector strain, pFG140), Ad37p (GW), Ad4p (Ri-67) and Ad41p (tak) were used in this study and as representatives of adenoviral subgenera A, B, C, D, E and F. All serotypes were raised in A549 cells and purified by equilibrium centrifugation in CsCl. They were all typed with respect to their restriction pattern (Adrian et al., DNA restriction analysis of adenovirus prototypes 1 to 41., Arch. Virol. 91:277-290 (1986)).

3.2 Cell Lines and Culture Conditions

Eight human cell lines were used in this study. A549, from human oat cell carcinoma of the lung; HepG2, established from hepatoblastoma; HEP2, from larynx carcinoma; LNCaP and DU145 were both raised from metastatic prostate carcinoma; MG7 and CAMA, both from breast carcinoma. HMEC was an immortalised human microvascular endothelial cell line (Ades et al., J. Invest. Dermatol. 99:683-690 (1992)). A549, HepG2 and HEP2 cells were grown in DMEM containing 5%, 10% and 15% foetal calf serum (FCS) respectively, 2 mM HEPES, 0.75 g/l NaCO3 and 1× penicillin G (100 IU/ml)/streptomycin sulphate (100 μg/mnl) (PEST) at 37° C. These three cell lines were subcultured every 3 days.

LNCaP, DU145, CAMA and MG7 cells were all grown on RPMI 1640 containing 10% FCS, 20 mM HEPES, 0.75 g/l NaCO3, 1×PEST, with additional 10E-10 M methyltrienolene (NEN™ from Life Science Products) for LNCaP, 1 mM pyruvate and 2 mM glutamine for DU145 and 0.2 IE/1 ml insulin (Pharmacia & Upjohn AB) for MG7 at 37° C.

HMEC cells were grown in endothelial basal medium MCDB131 containing 10% dialysed FCS, 1×PEST, 2 μM hydrocortisone, 5 ng/ml human epidermal cell growth factor (HEGF) (Roche) and 2 mM glutamine. These five cell lines were subcultured every 5-7 days. For all the cell lines, the FCS concentration was decreased to 2% after virus infection.

3.3 Virus Labelling

The virions were labelled as described under 1.3. and frozen in glycerol (10% v/v) and kept at −70° C. until use.

3.4 Binding Experiments Using a FACScan Flow Cytometer

For each binding experiment 125 000-250 000 cells were used. The cells were incubated with 3 different concentrations, 1, 3 and 6 pg/cell, of biotinylated Ad 11p, Ad 5v, Ad 4p, Ad 31p, Ad 37p and Ad 41p virons in PBS containing 2% FCS and 0.01% NaN₃ (PBS—FCS—NaN₃) in a total volume of 100 μl at 4° C. on shaking for 30 min. The cells were washed once with 120 μl PBS—FCS—NaN₃ buffer, followed by addition of 1:100 dilution of streptavidin-fluoroscein isotiocyanate (DAKO) in PBS—FCS—NaN₃ buffer by shaking for another 30 min at 4° C. Then the cells were washed once again with the buffer described above and finally resuspended in 300 μl PBS—FCS—NaN₃ buffer containing 1 μg/ml propidium iodine (PI) to exclude dead cells from the fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. The cell samples were measured by a FACScan (Becton Dickinson) flow cytometer and then analysed exploring the LYSYSII software (Becton Dickinson).

3.5 Immunofluorescence Procedures

200 000 cells of HepG2, HMEC and MG7 cell lines were stained as described under 1.6 above.

3.6 [³⁵S] Labelling of Infected Cell Proteins

One and a half million cells of HMEC, MG7, HepG2 and A549 were infected with 2 pg/cell (corresponding to 7200 virus particles/cell) of Ad 5v, Ad 11p and Ad 4p virions. In 1 ml medium without FCS, DMEM for A549 and HepG2 cells, RPMI 1640 for MG7 and HMEC cells, virions were absorbed by shaking the cell culture during 90 min, unbound viruses were then washed off with PBS. The infected cell cultures were washed once with methionine and cystein free RPMI medium 22 hours p.i. and incubated for 2 h in 2.5 ml methionine and cystein free DMEM (ICN Biomedicals, Inc.) or RPMI 1640 (ICN Biomedicals, Inc.) containing 5% FCS, 20 mM HEPES and. 1×PEST, to deplete endogenous methionine and cysteine. Twenty-four hours p.i., the cells were labelled with 0.45 mCi/bottle of 35S-labelled methionine and cysteine (1175 Ci/mmol, 10.5 mCi/ml; ICN). Fifty μl of cold cystein (100 mM) and 25 μl cold methionine (100 mM) was added 1 and 4.5 hours after labelling. After labelling for 24 hours both cold methionine and cysteine was added again. The infected cells were harvested 72 h p.i. and washed twice in 0.1 M Tris-HCl (pH 8.0)—4 mM EDTA—1 mM phenylmethyl-sulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and resuspended in 90 μl of the same buffer (the final volumes were 100 μl). Then the samples were analysed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography as described below.

3.7 SDS-PAGE and Autoradiography

Ten μl of each labelled sample was taken for electrophoresis by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel containing 12% acrylamide:bisacrylamide at a ratio of 29:1. The protein samples were mixed with equal volume of 2 × loading buffer and heated at 95° C. for 8 min before loading. The electrophoresis was performed at 200 volts for 3.5 h until the BPB dye reached the bottom of the gel. Then the gels were stained in coomassie brilliant blue for 3-5 hours and destained in 40% menthol and 10% acetic acid for 12-16 hours. The gels were dried using a gel drier (SAVANT) prior to autoradiography. The photographic film (Fuji-RX) was exposed for 1-3 days. The density of bands for hexon was analysed in a Gel-Pro ANALYSER program.

3.8 Titration of Viral Infectivity

HepG2, MG7, HMEC and A549 cells were analysed. 100 000 cells of each cell line were incubated with Ad 4p (0.2 pg/cell) in duplicate tubes for 1, 12, 24, 48, and 96 hours. After 1 h of adsorption in 200 μl of DMEM or RPMI 1640 containing 2% FCS on shaldng at 37° C., all cells were washed twice in PBS and then cultured in 1 ml fresh medium. Two tubes of infected cells were pooled together at the end of the incubation and freeze-thawed three times. The lysates were diluted in 10-fold steps, inoculated in five parallel A549 cell tubes for each dilution. The cytopathic effect was monitored every second day for 12 days.

4. Results Concerning Binding to Endothelial and Carcinoma Cells

Ad 11p showed markedly higher binding to the endothelial cell line and to all carcinoma cell lines studied than all other studied adenoviruses. See FIG. 3.

At the lowest virus concentration of 1 pg/cell, the labelled cells varied from 25% to over 80% in these cell lines, lowest in LNCaP cells with 25% labelled cells, highest in HMEC and DU145 cells with over 80% cells labelled by Ad11p. At a concentration of 6 pg/cell, Ad 11p virion labelled were more than 95% of HepG2, HEP2, MG7, CAMA, DU145 and HMEC cells, and over 85% of the LNCAP cells. However, Ad 5v displayed a low binding capacity to all investigated cell lines. Even at a high concentration of 6 pg virions /cell, Ad5v did not label more than 15% of the cells in any studied cell line.

It was also shown that Ad 4p shows preferential binding affinity to HepG2 and HEP2 cell lines. At a virus concentration of 6 pg/cell, Ad 4p virions could bind to 77% of HepG2 cells and 61% of HEP2 cells. They were much more efficient than Ad 5v (11% for HepG2 and 5% for HEP2), Ad 31p (27% and about 10%), Ad 37p (47% and 13%) and Ad 41p (68% and 71%), but still less efficient than Ad 11p (96% and 97%).

It was further shown, that Ad 4p and Ad 11p were more infectious than Ad 5v in hepatoma, breast cancer and endothelial cells. No sign of Ad 5v infection was noted in the breast cancer (MG7) cells.

The experiments also showed, that Ad4 p and Ad 11p viral structures and non-structural proteins were efficiently expressed in HepG2 and MG7 cell lines. Two fold more Ad 11p and Ad 4p hexons than Ad 5 hexons were produced in A549 cells, which also is in agreement with their differences in binding affinity. In MG7 cells, viral proteins were detected using Ad 11p and Ad 4p but not in Ad 5v infected cells. The efficient shut-off of the cellular proteins as a consequence of the efficient infections was seen in Ad 11p and Ad 4p but not Ad 5v infected A549 and MG7 cells. It was remarkable that the Ad 4p proteins were more efficiently expressed than the Ad 11p proteins in HepG2 and MG7 cells, even though Ad11p manifested a higher binding efficiency to these cells. See FIGS. 4 and 5.

The results show that Ad 11p from subgenus B:2 exhibits an impressive high binding efficiency for all cell lines tested, including the endothelial cell line and hepatoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer and larynx cancer cell lines. A high binding affinity of Ad 11 p to several hematopoietic cell lines has also been observed. Adenoviruses of subgenus B use a different unknown primary receptor.

5. Dendritic Cells

5.1 Virus Purification

Ad 5v, Ad 11p and Ad 35p were all raised and purified in A549 cells as follows:

A549 cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM, Sigma) containing 5% foetal bovine serum (FBS), 20 mM HEPES, NaHCO₃ (0.75 g/l) and 1× penicillin G (100 IU/ml)-streptomycin sulphate (100 μg/ml)(PEST) at 37oC. Upon virus infection the FBS concentration was lowered to 1%. After virus was added to the cells, they were incubated at 37oC. on a rocker platform for 5 days. Thereafter the medium was removed and the cells resuspended in 0.01 M Tris-HCl pH 7.5. To break the cells they were frozen and thawed three times. An equal volume Arclon was added and the suspension shaken vigorously for 15 min. Finally the virus particles were separated on a discontinuous CsCl gradient (1.5 ml of 1.37 g/ml, 2 ml of 1.32 g/ml and 3 ml of 1.27 g/ml) by centrifugation at 100 000×g for 2.5 h. The buffer was changed to 0.05 M NaHCO₃, 0.135 M NaCl pH 8.8 on a nap-10 column, according to instructions by the manufacturer (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech).

5.2 Achieving Dendritic Cells

Human blood was collected from a healthy volunteer after 5 days of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) subcutaneous injections (0.48 mg/injection). CD34+ cells were purified from the blood using magnetic activated cell sorter (MACS) with monoclonal anti-CD34 according to manufacturers description (Dynabead). To differentiate the CD34+ cells into dendritic cells (DC), cells were grown in 24-well plates at a concentration of 200 000 cells/well in 5% CO2 at 37° C. RPMI 1640 (Sigma) medium was used supplemented with 2.5×10E-8 M mercaptoethanol, 1×PEST, 2 mM L-glutamine, 10% heat inactivated FBS, 100 ng/ml granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and 2.5 ng/ml tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. Interleukin (IL)-4 was added at a concentration of 50 ng/ml after 8-12 days. All recombinant human cytokines were purchased from R&D systems. The cells were split every 4-8 days.

5.3 Binding Studies Using FACScan Flow Cytometer

Cells were harvested after 16-19 days and kept in 1×PBS containing 2% FBS (heat inactivated). 10E6 cells were used in each reaction. Biotinylated Ad5v, 11p or 35p virions were added to the cells at a concentration of 10 500 virions/cell and allowed to bind for 30 min. The remaining method was as described under 1.4 above and the result evaluated using the CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson).

5.4 Studying Uptake of Virions by Immunohistochemistry

1.7×10E5 cells were used for each experiment. Cells grown for 18-22 days were infected with Ad5v, 11p or 35p at a concentration of 7000 virions/cell and further incubated at 37° C., 5% CO₂ for 1, 24 or 49 h. The cells were washed in 1 ml 1×PBS and put on a Super Frost glass slide (Menzel-Gläser) to dry over night. The cells were fixed in ice-cold 70% acetone, 30% methanol for 10 min followed by blocking with 5% human serum for 1 h at 37° C. The primary mouse anti-human CD1a antibody (Dako) was diluted 1:100 in 1×PBS containing 0.1% BSA (PBS—BSA). Unfractionated serum from rabbits immunised with whole virions (Ad5v, 11p and 35p) was diluted 1:200 and used as primary antibody against viral structural proteins. The cells were incubated with the primary antibodies for 1 h at 37° C. followed by washing in PBS 3×5 min. The secondary antibodies (tetramethyl-rhodamine-6-isothiocyanate (TRITC)-conjugated goat anti-mouse and FITC-conjugated swine anti-rabbit) were diluted 1:40 in PBS—BSA and incubated at 37° C. for 30 min and washed as before. 50% glycerol in 1×PBS was added to store the cells. The stainings were evaluated using a light microscope (Zeiss) and confocal microscope (Molecular probe 2001 by Molecular Dynamics). Pictures scanned in confocal microscope were processed using the software program Image Space (Molecular Dynamics).

6. Results Concerning the Binding of Adenovirions to and Internalisation into Dendritic Cells

Ad 11p exhibited high binding efficiency to CD1a dendritic cells, in particular in comparison to the conventionally used Ad 5v. See FIG. 6. Viral uptake and intranuclear expression was confirmed by confocal microscopy. No uptake was observed in parallel studies using the Ad5 vector.

7. Results Concerning the Binding of Adenoviruses to Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

7.1. Adenoviruses Belonging to Six Subgenera Manifested Different Binding Affinity to Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

The character of the hematopoietic progenitor cells surface components to which adenoviruses from six subgenera attach were investigated using a virus-binding assay, in which cells were freshly prepared using immunomagnetic beads (Dynal) coupled with mouse anti-human CD34+ monoclone antibody and incubated at 4° C. with biotinylated viruses and then streptavidin-FICT, and the amount of virus bound to the cell surface was quantified by FACS analysis. The binding capacities of adenoviruses with various tropisms to CD34+ progenitor cells from bone marrow are illustrated in FIG. 4, which represents one of three repeated observations.

The fluorescence histogram of adenoviruses manifests various binding affinity to CD34+ cells that can be classified into three groups; high, intermediate, and undetectable affinity. Virions of Ad3, Ad11p, and Ad35p displayed high binding affinity, i.e. with 1 μg of labelled virions, more than 90% of positive cells were detected for Ad11p, whereas about 50% were labelled for both Ad3 and Ad35. The Ad7, Ad11a, and Ad37 manifested an intermediate affinity to CD34+ cells, i.e. 20% cell scored positive with 1 μg of added virions. Virions of Ad31, Ad5, Ad4, and Ad41 manifested no detectable affinity to the stem cells 1, 3 and 10 μg of the virions were used per 1 million CD34+ cells.

7.2 Confirmation that the Cells Binding Adenoviruses Represent CD34+ Cells. Identification of CD34+ Cells Bound by Some Adenovirus Serotypes.

Freshly purified CD34+ cells were incubated with biotinylated ADVs at 4° C. for 30 min, the cells were washed once with PBS-FCS-NaN₃ buffer, and then simultaneously incubated with RPE-avidin and MAB-FITC specific for CD34+ cells, and submitted to flow cytometric analysis. The cells bound by ADVs showed Red-fluorescence (upper left). Green-fluorescence indicated the CD34+ cells (lower right). Double labelled cells showed intensities in the upper right window. See FIG. 5.

At the concentration 0.1 μg of Ad11p virions, the double labelled positive cells (CD34+ marker with fluorescence staining and virion marker with RPE staining) corresponded to 53.2% of total cells for Ad11p attachment. Comparison with Ad11p, Ad11a, and Ad37 showed a similar low affinity that was only 12.8% or 17.1% cells double labelling positive. By increasing the amount of virions, the portion of Ad11p labelled cells with double colour apparently increased to 80.7%, but only reached 18.2% for Ad11a and 20.6% for Ad37. Consequently, the cells bound by adenoviruses were interpreted to represent quiescent CD34+ cells.

8. Determination of the Ad11p Nucleotide and Amino Acid Sequence

The nucleic acid sequence and the preliminary amino acid sequence is attached as SEQ. ID. NO. 1 and SEQ. ID. NO. 2. A preliminary genomic analysis has been performed and the result is summarised in the table below:

TABLE 2 Adenovirus 11p genome NA sequence Name of region and map unit Size and % Codon for ORF Position of NA ITR   1-134 (0-0.38)  134/0.38 — E1A  480-1530 1050/3.0  28K  568-1161 (1.36-4.3 mu) E1B  1556-3949 2393/6.8  21K 1610-2152 (4.4-11.2 mu) 55K 1915-3399 Hexon associated 3483-3902 protein IX E2A 23401-21845 1556/4.4  DNA binding protein 23401-21845 (67.2-62.8 mu) E2B 10342-3950 6392/18.4 Protein IVa2 5588-3964 (29.7-11.4 mu) DNA polymerase 8435-5067 Terminal protein 10342-8438  E3 26863-30633 3770/10.8 12.1K 27184-27501 (77.2-88 mu) 16.1K 27455-27850 18.5K 27835-28335 20.3K 28355-28900 20.6K 28918-29481 10.3K 29525-29800 15.2K 29805-30209 15.3K 30202-30609 IE  5138-8255 3117/9.0  11.5K 6160-6480 (17.8-23.7) 15.3K agnoprotein 7845-8255 L1 10648-13602 2954/8.5  55K 10648-11813 (30.6-39.1 mu) IIIa protein 11839-13602 L2 13682-17314 3632/10.4 Penton base 13682-15367 (39.3-49.8 mu) Protein VII 15379-15957 Protein V 16000-17055 11K protein precursor 17084-17314 L3 17398-21766 4368/12.5 Protein VI 17398-18138   (50-62.5 mu) Hexon 18254-21100 23K proteinase 21137-21766 L4 23432-27184 3748/10.8 100K protein 23432-25870 (67.3-78.1 mu) 33K 25602-26444 VIII Hexon associated 26451-27184 protein precursor L5 30811-31788  975/2.8  Fiber protein 30811-31788 (88.5-91.3 mu) ITR 34659-34793  134/0.38 — (99.6-100 mu) Note: NA, nucleotide.

Although the invention has been described with regard to its preferred embodiments, which constitute the best mode presently known to the inventors, it should be understood that various changes and modifications as would be obvious to one having the ordinary skill in this art may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims appended hereto. 

1. A purified and isolated DNA sequence comprising the nucleotide sequences defined by positions 30811-31788 and 18254- 21100 in SEQ ID NO:
 1. 2. An isolated and purified DNA sequence comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 3. A gene delivery vehicle comprising the sequence according to claim
 2. 4. A vector comprising the sequence defined in claim
 2. 5. The gene delivery vehicle of claim 3, wherein said vehicle further comprises a foreign nucleic acid capable of expressing in a human a therapeutic or prophylactic agent.
 6. A method of gene therapy, comprising the step of administering a therapeutically effective amount of the gene delivery vehicle of claim 3 to a human in need thereof.
 7. A method of gene therapy, comprising transfecting human cells of neural origin with the gene delivery vehicle according to claim
 3. 8. A method of gene therapy, comprising transfecting human cells selected from the group consisting of hepatoma, breast cancer and endothelial cells with the gene delivery vehicle according to claim
 3. 9. A method of gene therapy, comprising transfecting human dendritic cells with the gene delivery vehicle according to claim
 3. 10. A method of gene therapy, comprising transfecting human endothelial cells with the gene delivery vehicle according to claim
 3. 11. A method of gene therapy, comprising transfecting human hematopoietic progenitor cells with the gene delivery vehicle according to claim
 3. 12. A method in the treatment of a patient having cancer, comprising the step of administering to the patient a therapeutically effective amount of the gene delivery vehicle of claim
 3. 13. A method of gene therapy, comprising the step of administering a therapeutically effective amount of the gene delivery vehicle of claim 5 to a human in need thereof.
 14. The method of claim 7, wherein said human cells are selected from the group consisting of glioblastoma, neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma cells.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein said cancer is selected from the group consisting of lung cancer, breast caner, prostate cancer, and bladder cancer. 